Criticism towards Boris Johnson for deeming suggestion to cease UK arms sales to Israel as ‘insane’
Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson, has strongly criticized the suggestion for the UK to cease arms exports to Israel, referring to the proposal as “insane”. Johnson emphasized the importance of promptly disapproving the idea, stating that it is crucial to do so as soon as possible.
Boris Johnson recently raised the question in a column in The Daily Mail about whether an arms embargo truly aligns with the nation’s interests. The UK has faced calls to pause its arms sales following a tragic incident where seven aid workers, including three British ex-forces members, lost their lives in an Israeli air strike on Monday.
According to the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP), there may be a surge in demands for accountability if it is confirmed that the engine in the Hermes 450 drone, which is believed to have caused the fatalities, was manufactured in the UK.
Right-wing media outlets, typically sympathetic to Israel, expressed outrage for the killings, including The Daily Mail itself, with its leading headlines covering the story by not just criticising the killing of the British workers, but also Israel’s general lack of care about civilian casualties.
The Tory MP labelled the call as “the death wish of Western civilisation”, and while the killing of World Central Kitchen workers was “shattering”, Johnson defended Israel’s right to “defend” itself against Hamas.
Johnson has received backlash online for his column, with many reminding the former prime minister that Israel has killed over 33,000 Palestinian civilians.
Johnson’s comments go against the many conservative MPs backing the call for the UK to rethink its arms exports to Israel.
Conservative MPs David Jones, Paul Bristow, Flick Drummond, and former minister Hugo Swire, who have also called for the UK to stop its arms trade with Israel, including Mark Logan, calling for the UK to “seriously reassess” its exports to Israel in light of the WCK killings.
Peter Ricketts, a former national security advisor and permanent secretary at the UK Foreign Office and Conservative peer, told the BBC that the time had come to send Israel that “signal” by ending exports.
The UK government has licensed weapons exports worth over £574 million to Israel, according to government export data analysed by Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), with fears that UK-made weaponry could be responsible for many of those killed in the Israeli onslaught.
While UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described the killings as an “awful, awful tragedy”, he told The Sun that arms licenses are kept under “careful” review and “regulations and procedures” are followed.
